IMF Confirms Progress on El Salvador’s Chivo Bitcoin Wallet Sale

While the IMF says El Salvador paused official purchases, conflicting announcements from the country’s Bitcoin Office and public statements by President Nayib Bukele raised some questions about compliance, even as the nation still holds thousands of BTC on its balance sheet. At the same time, Brazil is embracing Bitcoin from a more cultural angle after approving funding for an experimental orchestral project that converts live Bitcoin price data into music. Overall, Bitcoin can be a point of tension for international lenders while also serving as creative inspiration somewhere else.

El Salvador Is Moving Forward With Chivo Wallet Sale?

The International Monetary Fund confirmed that negotiations over the potential sale of El Salvador’s government-run Chivo Wallet are well advanced. In a statement that was issued Monday, the IMF said Salvadoran authorities were continuing discussions related to the country’s Bitcoin project and that talks surrounding the divestment of Chivo were progressing, although specific details of the transaction were not undisclosed.

The update follows a deal that was reached in May between the IMF and El Salvador, under which the fund agreed to disburse $120 million as part of a $1.4 billion loan program for 2024. One of the core conditions of that agreement was a commitment by the Salvadoran government to stop further Bitcoin acquisitions and scale back public-sector involvement in Bitcoin-related economic activity. According to the IMF, this included winding down state participation in the Chivo wallet.

Despite these commitments, there are still some questions over whether El Salvador is fully complying with the terms of the agreement. While the IMF reported in July that the government had not purchased any Bitcoin since December of 2024, the country’s Bitcoin Office continued to announce additional acquisitions. Officials revealed purchases totaling 1,090 Bitcoin in November alone, valued at roughly $100 million at the time. These announcements have fueled uncertainty around how strictly the government is actually adhering to the IMF-backed framework.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin balance history (Source: El Salvador Bitcoin Office)

El Salvador’s embrace of Bitcoin dates back to 2021, when it became the first country in the world to recognize the cryptocurrency as legal tender. The move was championed by President Nayib Bukele. Since then, Bitcoin has been central to Bukele’s economic strategy and international image, even though it drew criticism from multilateral institutions.

According to official data from the Bitcoin Office, El Salvador currently holds 7,509 Bitcoin, which is worth approximately $659 million at current market prices.

Bukele publicly pushed back against suggestions that the government will abandon its Bitcoin strategy. In March, he stated that El Salvador will continue buying at least one Bitcoin per day, saying the policy was “not stopping,” regardless of external pressure.

Brazil Funds Bitcoin Music Experiment

Brazil is taking a very different approach to how it embraces Bitcoin. An experimental orchestral project in Brazil is set to transform Bitcoin market data into live music after receiving official approval to raise funds through one of the country’s federal tax-incentive programs for cultural initiatives. 

According to Brazil’s Federal Register, the project has been authorized to seek up to 1.09 million reais, or roughly $197,000, from private companies and individual donors to stage an instrumental concert that translates financial data into sound.

The initiative will take place in Brasília, the country’s federal capital, and centers on converting real-time Bitcoin price movements into musical notation using an algorithmic system. During the performance, Bitcoin’s price behavior and related technical data will be tracked live and mapped to elements like melody, rhythm, and harmony, guiding an orchestra as it plays. 

The goal is to give audiences an audible representation of Bitcoin’s volatility, blending traditional orchestral instrumentation with data-driven composition inspired by principles from art, mathematics, economics, and physics. The project description does not specify whether blockchain or on-chain infrastructure will be directly used in the performance itself.

Approval under Brazil’s Rouanet Law confirms that the proposal passed technical review and qualifies for tax-deductible sponsorships, which allows contributors to offset donations against their taxes. Fundraising for the concert must be completed by Dec. 31, and the initiative was formally classified under the “Instrumental Music” category, which determines how the tax incentives are applied.

One-of-a-kind programmable piece that generates a new image each day, synced with Bitcoin’s volatility

The Brazilian project follows a lineage of experiments that treat cryptocurrency data as creative raw material. Earlier examples include a 2020 programmable artwork by Matt Kane that changed visually in response to Bitcoin price movements and was released through Async Art, as well as data-driven installations by artist Refik Anadol that use algorithms and artificial intelligence to convert complex datasets into visual experiences.